When All Is Lost
by silente faery
Summary: AU. When Danny loses his friends & his family's trust, while feeling overwhelmed with life in general, he finds himself wondering why he's still here...when life is no longer worth living. Written with purpledog100. some DXS
1. When All Is Lost

**When All is Lost**

It was just a normal Thursday morning. Children were heading to school, and adults were driving to work. Actually, it was a bit abnormal for Danny Fenton. He and his friends, Sam and Tucker, were walking to school, after missing the bus, but it looked like they were actually going to be on time. There was still fifteen minutes until the bell rang, and they were only two blocks away.

Sam seemed to be thinking along the same lines.

"Wow, you might actually be on time for school today, Danny." She said.

"Yeah, it'll be the first time in…a few weeks?" Tucker commented.

"Hey, it isn't my fault! It's not like I can just ignore all of the ghosts that just happen to appear right before school." Danny retorted.

"It also might help if you didn't sleep until 7:30." Sam said.

"You'd sleep late too if you had to get up at 1:30 in the morning and fight the stupid Box Ghost!" protested Danny.

Danny groaned as he saw the familiar blue mist come out of his mouth. Sam and Tucker also noticed it. All three of them looked around them, trying to discover where the ghost was.

"There!" Tucker shouted as he pointed at two figures coming towards them.

As the figures got closer, Danny recognized them as Desiree and Technus. He briefly wondered why those two would team up before an ectoplasmic blast came his way and he had to dodge it.

Looking around to make sure no one was in the vicinity, Danny quickly transformed into Danny Phantom.

"Don't think or say any wish!" He barked at his friends before flying up to meet the two ghosts.

"So, are you two dating now?" He asked as he shot an ecto-blast at each of them.

"No. We met at the portal and I, Technus, thought it would be fun if we beat you together" Technus said in his annoying voice as he shot two ecto-blasts at Danny.

"I also thought he would make a good distraction." Desiree said.

"A distraction from what?" Danny asked as he dodged Technus's attack.

"This!" Desiree exclaimed as she gathered a massive ball of pink energy in her hands and threw it at Danny.

Her aim was right on target. The energy hit Danny in the chest and he screamed as he was thrown into the hard pavement below.

"Do something!" Danny yelled at Tucker and Sam. "I'm having a hard time here!"

"Tucker," Sam said, groaning at Danny's rudeness. "You have the thermos, don't you?"

"Oh yeah!" he said, and then pulled it out. He was about to throw it to Danny, but Sam put her hand in front of him.

"I don't think that's such a good idea…" Sam said, motioning towards Danny.

He was currently locked in a battle with Technus while frantically dodging Desiree's blasts. In a short amount of time, he was lying face down on the ground, being pounded on by Technus. Sam quickly snatched the thermos from Tucker's grasp and then opened it, sucking Desiree and Technus inside it. Afterwards, they rushed over to Danny's side.

"Danny! Are you ok?" Sam said.

Danny reverted back to his human form and got up, dusting off his pants. His left arm was bleeding and one of his pant's legs was torn.

"Look what you guys did!" Danny said angrily. "If you had helped sooner, maybe I wouldn't have gotten hurt! Now I see how much you guys care!" With that said, he stomped off.

"Danny, you jerk!" Sam yelled after his retreating form, and he halted in his tracks. "Now we're late for school. You can't hold us accountable for everything that goes wrong. We're only here to help."

"I know guys, I know." He said, coming back towards them. "I'm sorry, guys. I'm just tired, is all. Can you forgive me?"

"Like we do everyday, Danny." Tucker said. "Now hurry up, we have to get to class!"

So, they ran towards the school.

By the time the three teenagers arrived at school, it was 8:45. They had already missed homeroom, so they walked to English class.

'Oh great,' Danny thought bitterly. 'Whyis it I'm always late for Lancer's class?I'm occasionally late for other classes, but primarily, it's Lancer's class.'

The trio paused in front of the door that would surely lead them to their doom. They could hear Mr. Lancer already starting one of his mind-numbing lectures. They sighed and walked in.

Mr. Lancer was standing at the front of the room, holding a thick textbook in his hands, looking extremely irritated. The students, however, looked relieved that they no longer had to pretend to pay attention to what Mr. Lancer had been saying. They took advantage of this situation to whisper quietly behind their hands while Lancer's attention was focused elsewhere.

"So," Lancer said. "Did you three decide that eight o' clock was too early to come to school? Or do you actually have a good explanation for your tardiness?"

Danny tried to think of an acceptable excuse for being late; he couldn't tell Lancer the real reason. He glanced at his friends, but they looked as just as clueless as he did.

"No answer?" Lancer asked, and was met by more silence. "Well, then I guess I'll just have to give all of you a week's worth of detention. Now take your seats."

Danny, Sam, and Tucker obediently sat down at their desks while Mr. Lancer droned on.

"Now today, as I was saying before I was interrupted by these three," he said to the class, indicating Danny, Sam, and Tucker. "Today's assignment is to read chapters 1-3 of To Kill a Mockingbird. Right now we will discuss the themes of the book so you know what you're looking for. You will also take notes on the plot, the summary of each chapter, the important events, and vocabulary. You will tell if each theme shows up in each chapter or not. I hope you are writing this down. Now, the first theme is growing up…"

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The day seemed to get longer as each second passed. They were now in Biology class, and there was only 6 minutes left until lunch.

Danny started counting down the minutes until the bell rang, signaling his freedom, even thought it would be short lived.

Mr. Ditter was at the front of the classroom, talking about DNA and RNA, but Danny wasn't paying much attention. His eyes were fixed on the clock placed above the chalkboard.

Something small hit him on his cheek. He turned his head to the left and saw Sam staring at him from her desk. Her piece of paper that she had been taking notes on was missing part of the top right corner, which she had crumpled and thrown at Danny.

"Hey," She said. "Me and Tuck need to talk to you."

"What about?" Danny asked.

"I'll tell you at lunch."

"Alright."

Danny and Sam's conversation took a whole two minutes. Now there were four minutes left.

Mr. Ditter was now droning about the three main types of RNA. "There are three types of RNA: messenger RNA, ribosomal RNA, and transfer RNA. Messenger RNA contains genes that have instructions for amino acids to assemble proteins…"

Danny attempted to listen and take notes, but his attention span did not last long. His interest drifted back to the clock. Two minutes left.

He wondered what Sam and Tucker needed to talk to him about. It could just be something trivial, but Sam's tone had been serious.

Mr. Ditter was now copying their homework assignment on the board. "Define all key terms for chapter 12 and write a summary for each section."

Danny copied down the assignment, hoping that he would actually remember it and still have time to complete it by the end of the day. That took a minute and a half.

'Thirty more seconds,' Danny thought anxiously. He watched as the second hand moved towards the nine on the clock.

Everyone had now gathered up their things and were now sitting on the edge of their seats, ready to jump out of them the second the bell rang.

The bell's thunderous ring finally came and everyone shot out of the classroom and towards the cafeteria.

Danny walked into the cafeteria and saw that the lunch line was extremely long. He decided that he would sit down until the line went down. There was no use in standing in line that long, right?

He walked towards his regular table, where Tucker and Sam were already waiting.

He got a bit sidetracked, though, when Paulina walked past him. He was so busy staring at her that he tripped over an adjacent chair and fell. He landed on the same arm that had been injured earlier. Laughter rang in his ears as he picked himself up and sat next to his friends.

Tucker looked like he was trying not to laugh, but Sam looked irritated. "Do you _still_ like her? She's just a shallow prep who's never gonna give you a second thought. She only likes your _ghost_ half, so just give it up!"

Danny was now beyond irritated. He was already having a bad day. First, he had to fight Technus and Desiree, then he got detention for a week, he had got a C on his math test after wasting nearly all of his nutrition­1 time to negotiate, and now his left arm was starting to bleed again.

"You know what, Sam? You're just jealous because you're not as pretty or popular as Paulina!" Danny had started out talking normally, but he soon found himself yelling.

"Just because you're a klutz and tripped over a chair doesn't mean you have to take it out on Sam!" Tucker shouted at him.

"You're not any better! You and Sam hardly ever do anything right!" Danny shot back.

"Then why are you always ordering us around if we can't do anything right?" Tucker asked heatedly.

"I don't know. I don't even know why I hang around you guys. You're always harassing me about something I did wrong!" snapped Danny. All of his frustration and anger was coming out and he was directing it at his two friends.

"Well you won't have to worry about us harassing you any longer, you jerk!" Sam shouted. She and Tucker then dashed out of the cafeteria, leaving Danny alone at the table.

He looked over his shoulder and saw the entire student body staring at either him or the door which Tucker and Sam had just went through.

'Oh_'_, Danny thought. 'I guess the whole school heard that. Great…'

Not wanting to be stared at for the rest of the lunch period, Danny walked past the hundreds of muttering students and into the hallway.

Tucker and Sam didn't talk to him or even look at him that afternoon. Even in history class, when their assigned seats were right next to each other. They still didn't spare him a glance. Danny felt bad about arguing with them and hurting their feelings and wanted to apologize. He decided not to talk to them though, because he still felt irritated and was afraid that he might start yelling again.

In detention, Sam and Tuck sat as far away as possible from Danny. He had calmed down a lot since lunch and he had already planned to apologize to his friends after detention.

Finally, after fifty minutes, Lancer told the 'detentionees' they could leave.

Danny walked to his locker to get his books he would need that night for his homework. He stuffed the books into his backpack, and then turned around to catch up with Tucker and Sam. Instead of seeing his friends, though, he saw Dash Baxter, Kwan, and a couple of other muscular jocks surrounding him.

"Where you goin', Fentino?" Dash said, looking very intimidating.

"Go away, Dash. I'm not in the mood." Danny replied, though he didn't really expect his words to stop Dash.

"Well, _I'm_ in the mood." said Dash.

The huge jocks were closing in around Danny, looking like lions getting ready for the kill. Danny had nowhere to go. There were no empty slots he could fit through in the ring of bullies.

Dash, as ring leader of the group, landed the first punch. It hit Danny right in the stomach. After that, all Danny could see was a volley of fists, and sometimes kicks, hitting him. He tried to defend himself, but he was outnumbered ten to one. He couldn't go intangible because that would blow his cover.

After about forty five minutes of non stop abuse, Dash and his gang got bored and stuffed Danny into his locker.

Danny heard the sound of the bullies' laughter as they left him alone. He couldn't see anything, but he could tell that he had to be bleeding pretty badly in some places. He couldn't tell exactly where, though, because his whole body was one big hurt.

Danny tried to faze out of his locker, but couldn't. He was too weak. For the next ten minutes, he tried to go intangible, or even _move_, but he found that he couldn't. He eventually gave up and slipped into unconsciousness.

He awoke some time later. It took him a few minutes to realize where he was. He tried going intangible again, and this time it worked.

'I guess I got some of my energy back,' He thought as he fell to the floor.

The hallway was dark. The school had already been locked up and even the janitors had departed.

Danny fazed through the wall of the school. It was dark outside, too. Night had fallen. It was also wet outside. Rain was coming down fairly hard.

He started walking towards his house, intangible so he wouldn't get soaked. His intangibility did not last long, though. He was still weak from his fight with Dash and his cronies.

'Wonderful,' Danny thought dryly. 'Could this day get any worse?'

When he finally reached his house, he turned the doorknob and opened the door to reveal his parents standing side by side with grim expressions on their faces. Gulping, he closed the door behind him. 'It's sure dim in here,' he thought. 'But not as bad as the sky outside. It was pitch black!' He then noticed that his mom was swinging around a white paper. 'Uh oh, it can't be…' he thought and crossed his fingers. 'Anything but that!'

"Danny, we have to talk to you about your study habits." His mom said in a strict tone.

"Ye-yes Mom?"

"How did you fail all of your classes! I can't believe you! What do you have to say for yourself!"

"Mom I-"

"Never mind, don't give me anymore of your excuses!"

"Danny," Jack said. "We are fed up with your study habits. Countless times you have lied to us about studying when you haven't!"

"I did _too_ study for the last test! I just couldn't think of it when I was taking it!"

"Then you didn't study hard enough!" Maddie said furiously. "Now we're going to set regulations, like we _should_ have done a long time ago. At this rate, you'll end up flunking the ninth grade!"

"Mom!" Danny said, purely shocked.

"Danny," Jack began. "From this day forward we forbid you from talking to your friends on the phone, going to parties…"

"Going anywhere with your friends, playing on the computer…" Maddie continued.

"…or watching TV! Now go up to your room young man! F's are not acceptable in this home! Heck, you can't even have _friends_ over! Now scat!" Jack added, and then dismissed him in a huff.

Danny trudged slowly to his room, still aghast at what had taken place. 'I didn't believe I was failing…' he thought, and then his thoughts turned to a sadder note. 'It's not like I have _friends_ to invite over anyways,' he thought despondently.

As he entered his room, he passed by a mirror that hung on his wall and realized how beat up he was. He hadn't been in proper light since Dash and his cronies beat him up, so he hadn't noticed how bad he looked. He had bruises on most of his body, his lip was cut, and there was dried blood around his nose. He was also soaking wet and his clothes were torn and dirty. Danny changed clothes and cleaned himself up some with a cloth, then plopped down on his bed.

After he was in his room for about half an hour, he heard his mom calling, "Danny! Come down here for a moment."

'And I had _just_ gotten comfortable too,' Danny mused, then got off of his bed reluctantly and trotted downstairs. He entered the kitchen to find his mother putting the rest of the dishes away. She turned to him and said:

"_Honey_, can you help me put away the rest of these dishes so I can set the table for dinner?"

"Why can't you ask_ Jazz_?" Danny asked.

"She has better grades than you. I don't want to interrupt her studying. You are _obviously_ slacking off in your room, rather than doing homework. Now stop arguing and help me, or dinner won't be served on time."

"Ok Mom," Danny said, then grudgingly started putting away some of the silverware.

After the dishes were all put away, Maddie began to get out plates from the cabinet.

"Danny, tell me something," she said curtly.

"What, Mom?"

"Why are your grades so bad?"

"Look, Mom. I swear to you. I'm doing better than that. The next report card will all be passing grades, I assure you."

"Don't lie to me, boy!"

"Mom! I'm not lying, I swear! On all my recent tests I've gotten a C or higher!"

"If that's true, which I doubt is, you haven't been doing your homework."

"I've done all of it!"

"Danny, stop it! I've fed up with your mendacity!"

"Mom I swear! I've just been really stressed out lately, and they'll be better I promise. I've had a really bad day, my friends-"

Maddie interrupted him by angrily swinging the plate at his face, causing it to shatter. Danny was shell-shocked; all he could do was gaze at the blood welling up from the wound on his cheek.

"Now look what you've done! You cost me my most expensive plate! Why can't you ever do anything right and stop spouting those lies! Why can't you be as smart as Jazz for a change! Go to your room, Danny! I can't stand to look at you!" Maddie said, and then cried desperately at what she had done. She had not meant to hit her son. She had just gotten extremely angry and swung the plate out of fury at how bad he was doing in school. Then she took it out on Danny, instead of taking the fault herself. She turned away for a moment, extremely distressed at her own doing, and then couldn't stand it any longer.

"Danny I-", she said, turning back, only to see Danny was running towards his room with his hand on his cheek. 'What have I done?'

Danny lay on his bed, still shaken about what had happened. 'My own mother hit me with a plate. I can't believe it…'

All of a sudden, he was overcome with a pang of dizziness. 'Oh that's right…I'm bleeding…' Dazed, he slowly got up from the bed and opened his dresser drawer, puling out a coil of adhesive gauze, then tore off a piece and stuck it on his wound. Then he went to the door and put his ear to it.

He could hear the sounds of the rest of the family having dinner downstairs. He then abruptly was aware of his own hunger. 'Good thing I always keep a small supply of food in my room.'

Danny took 3 packages of powdered donuts from under his bed. He lay down on his bed after that for at least an hour, thinking about everything that had happened that day. His friends hated him, he was badly bruised, he had horrible grades, his dad was upset with him, and his mom had swung a plate at him.

It was still raining outside when Danny fell asleep after finishing his donuts.

It was a restful slumber, but not for long…


	2. Illusions of the Mind

**When All Is Lost: Chapter 2: Illusions of the Mind**

Thunder struck, which drove Danny awake from his deep slumber. He blinked his eyes once, twice, then a third time to clear his drowsy feeling. He looked out the window.

'No surprise there, it's still raining,' he thought, then got up to change into his usual garb.

'Friday, it's the last day before the weekend. Then two days of free time, then it's school again. How boring,' he mused.

After he was fully dressed, he was all but ready to go downstairs. 'Today's going to be a totally different day. What will mom and dad say to me? I hope…that they're not as harsh on me today.'

Danny slowly walked down the stairs, each step more hesitant than the previous. 'I could just go intangible and escape through the wall, but then Mom and Dad would be suspicious.'

He entered the kitchen. His parents were sitting at the table, eating waffles. Danny noticed that Jazz was absent from the table, but he remembered her saying something about having an early counseling session with Spike today.

Danny went to get some orange juice from the fridge when his mother's voice stopped him.

"Danny, what are you doing?"

"Getting some orange juice," replied Danny. 'What else would I be doing?' He thought.

"Well your father and I have decided that you need a tutor. You need to go to school early and find someone who will help you with your studies."

"Now?" Danny said indignantly. "I'm hungry." The donuts he had last night hadn't been very filling, and his stomach was aching with hunger.

"Yes, now." His father said. "You need to find one as soon as possible, so you can start improving your grades right away."

"Fine," Danny grumbled as he strode out of the kitchen.

'I'm not finding a stupid tutor.' He thought as he picked up his backpack and walked out the front door. 'I know what my problem is, and a tutor's not going to help in the slightest. It's all the stupid ghosts that are always attacking!'

Danny looked around quickly, seeing no one near, and changed into his ghost form. 'It's only 7:15. The bus doesn't even come until later. I'll just fly around until school starts.'

He jumped into the air and started flying around with no particular destination in mind. 'I could go get breakfast at the Nasty Burger, but I don't have any money.' Danny thought bitterly.

A wisp of blue mist came out of Danny's mouth. He sighed and looked around for the ghost.

"Beware!" Danny heard a high pitched voice behind him say. He turned around just in time to see half a dozen boxes soaring towards him. Having no time to turn intangible, Danny was hit in the face by the boxes.

Danny regained his composure and started shooting ectoblasts at the Box Ghost.

"Why can't you get a life and stop stalking me?" He shouted.

"I am the Box Ghost! I have not come to stalk you, but to get my revenge on you for preventing me from obtaining the marvelous square-ness of every box in the world!"

"Just go away," Danny said, exasperated.

"Never mind then, for I have a mission!" The Box Ghost said as he dropped the boxes, now reduced to ashes from Danny's ectoblasts. "You are no longer in the favor by the council of all ghosts!"

"The ghost council? What's that?" questioned Danny.

"The controllers of all space and time and rulers of the ghost zone now that the old king is safely locked away! They do not approve of your recent actions! BEWARE! They will destroy you with a single **fist** if you do not correct yourself now! BOOO!" The Box Ghost finished his rant, and then disappeared.

'Well, that was completely weird,' Danny thought. 'But why is the ghost council mad at me? What did I do wrong _now_? Is it because I had a fight with Tucker and Sam? Did that alter my future? Well, seeing as something as something as simple as cheating on a stupid test turned me evil, I guess pretty much anything can change my future.'

"I got you now, Ghost Boy!" called yet another voice from behind him.

"Where the heck did you come from?" Danny said, dodging an ectoblast.

"Now I'm finally gonna end what I started! Prepared to be vaporized, Inviso-Bill!" yelled Valerie, the one known by the local populace as the Red Hunter, firing blasts everywhere.

"Yeah, you'll destroy me, just like you said you would all the other times! You never will, not over my dead body!" Danny yelled back, avoiding the blasts pouring out of Valerie's cannon.

"You're already dead, you dolt!"

'Yeah, that's what you think,' Danny thought.

He was suddenly hit by a purple blast from Valerie's weapon and was blasted back several yards. Danny wanted to end the fight, so he started flying away, Valerie following right behind him, still shooting at him.

The new jet sled Valerie had was much faster than the old one, so Danny couldn't fly fast enough to escape her. He tried flying through some buildings and trees, but even that didn't slow her down much. He was still dodging her blasts, with some of them hitting him.

A loud, shrill bell interrupted their flight. They had coincidentally ended up flying right over the school as the bell rang for classes to begin.

Valerie looked from the school, to Danny, and back again, looking hesitant. "Don't think that this is over, ghost!" She said, and then flew towards the school.

'I'm glad that's over. And no one got hurt, that's good.' Danny thought. He then noticed that his left arm was oozing ectoplasm…again! '…except me. What is it with this arm? Does everyone who fights me have some sort of meeting to decide which part of my body they're all going to attack?'

He sighed. Oh well, he'd have to pay a visit to the nurse before he went to class. But he had to be quick…he only had ten minutes left!

Danny ducked behind some bleachers, and then ran towards the school. He entered the building. The halls were empty, except for a few stragglers. Everyone else had already gone to class so they would not be counted as tardy. He jogged up the stairs to the second floor.

'Why is the nurse's office on the second floor? If someone was seriously injured, it might be kind of hard for them to climb up the stairs.' Danny thought.

He reached the door and knocked. No answer. He knocked again, this time a bit harder. Still there was no answer. He tried to turn the doorknob and go in, but it was locked. After he had made sure that no one was around, he went intangible and walked through the door.

The small room smelled strongly of disinfectants. It took a few minutes, but Danny finally located the small box filled with gauze pads. First, though, he had to clean his wound. Once he did that, he applied the gauze to his arm. The wound wasn't very deep, just long. So he had to apply two gauze pads to it. Then he wrapped his injury with bandage-cloths and knotted it at the end.

Once that task was completed, he looked at the big clock on the wall, which was synchronized with the bell. He had two minutes and forty seconds until it rang.

The doorknob was rattling. The nurse was on the other side of the door, unlocking it. Two seconds later, she entered. It took a few seconds for Danny to realize what was happening, but he went invisible just in time. He also had to go intangible because the nurse was walking straight at him.

Danny tried not to breathe too loudly as he quietly walked to the door. He looked back once more to make sure the nurse hadn't noticed him, then fazed through the door and into the hallway.

He was about to become visible again, but he saw Principal Ishiyama patrolling the halls, making sure no one was out of class who wasn't supposed to be. Danny silently waited for her to pass around the corner, and then turned visible again.

Danny walked in to Mr. Lancer's class just as the bell rang and breathed a sigh of relief. As he walked to his seat though, he noticed that strangely enough, everyone was _staring_ at him. 'Is there something on my face?' he wondered. 'Or is it my arm? Maybe the latter…'

"Okay, everyone sit down and I'll call attendance." Mr. Lancer said as he took the attendance sheet out from his desk drawer. He started calling out names, pausing for the student to say "here". Only after Mr. Lancer had finished calling out names and had put the sheet away did Danny realize that he hadn't called out his name.

"Mr. Lancer?" He said. "You skipped me. You never called my name."

"Well, Mr. Fenton, seeing as you hardly ever stay in my class the whole period, and you're failing, I didn't think it mattered whether or not you were here."

The whole class laughed and Dash Baxter said, "Yeah, Fenster, you're gonna be a bum!" Everyone laughed louder at this and started calling Danny a beggar.

Danny looked over at Sam and Tucker. They weren't laughing, but they were smiling and whispering to each other.

Danny put his head on his desk and wished that the day would end very, very soon.

The next few hours of school passed painfully slow for Danny. Everyone in the entire school, it seemed, knew about the incident in Lancer's class. Wherever Danny went there were students calling him a bum or a beggar, and he was thoroughly sick of it. Dash was also being even more intolerable than normal. He would go out of his way just to pass by Danny and give him a hard punch to the arm or shove him in his locker. He always hit Danny's already injured arm, too.

About the third time this had happened, Danny knew for a fact that his theory was true. 'Yep, I was right. Everyone who fights me _does _have a meeting to decide what part of me to hurt.'

Along with human enemies to reckon with, Danny also had to fight off the many ghosts that showed up that morning. First, there was the ever annoying Box Ghost that showed up in the middle of first period. Then Klemper appeared during second period. And finally, Skulker came to hunt Danny _again_ during fourth period.

Each time his ghost sense went off, Danny would have to think of an excuse to get himself out of class, locate the ghost, fight it, trap it in the thermos, then go back to class. By the time he got back though, the class was usually almost over, so he'd missed whatever the teacher was trying to teach them.

By lunch time, Danny was exhausted and ready for school to be over. He got a tray of food and sat down at his normal table. Tucker and Sam weren't there yet. Danny still wanted to apologize to them. He figured since there weren't normally any spare tables, they couldn't avoid him and had to sit with him.

He ate his food and glanced at the cafeteria doors every few seconds, waiting for them to walk in. When they did walk through the doors, Danny didn't like what he saw.

Both of them came in, hand in hand. Danny couldn't believe it. His best friends were dating! He didn't know which emotion was stronger: the anger, the confusion, or the jealousy…wait…jealousy?

'Why do I feel jealous?' Danny thought. 'Does this mean I like Sam?' He pondered over this question for a minute or two before he came up with an answer. 'I do! I do like Sam. Geez…I never realized that before. But….she doesn't like me back. She's dating Tucker.'

Danny watched as Sam gave Tucker a kiss on the lips, and they went over to the lunch line to get some food. He decided that he couldn't stand to be in the same room as the two of them and walked out of the cafeteria. He no longer felt any desire to apologize to either of them. They didn't miss him at all. They didn't even need to replace him to be happy. A thick cloud of depression sank his heart as quickly as a stone would if it were inside a balloon.

He spent the rest of the lunch period in a spare classroom, trying to do some of the homework he had already received. He didn't make much progress, though. His thoughts kept straying to Sam and Tuck. He never saw any clue at all that they ever had feelings for each other.

'I guess I was always there, getting in their way.' He thought as the bell rang and he headed off to gym class.

He had been dreading this class all day. He would have to change into shorts, exposing his bruised and scarred legs. Usually, he would have a few bruises anyway from fighting ghosts, but he seemed to have way more than normal today. Plus, he didn't feel like exercising with his arm the way it was.

When Danny walked into the gym, he looked around for Coach Tetslaff and spotted her near the bleachers.

He walked up to her and said, "Coach, do I really have to exercise today? Can't I just sit out? My arm is injured."

"Do you have a note from your guardian or a doctor?" She asked.

"No," Danny replied.

"Well, then you have to participate in this class." Coach Tetslaff said, and then walked away.

That left Danny with no other choice but to run, no matter how much pain he was in. He couldn't go invisible and skip class because Tetslaff already knew he was here and would figure out what he was up to. So he stepped inside the locker room and changed into his gym uniform.

Once everyone had changed and had finished their routine stretching, Tetslaff set the timer on the clock for ten minutes and told them to jog around the gym.

After about four minutes, Danny started feeling tired. 'This is weird,' He thought. 'I can usually jog at least seven minutes before getting this exhausted.'

Danny kept jogging laps around the gym. He really started to slow down after five minutes. He didn't think he could jog much longer. He was almost walking now.

"FENTON!" Coach Tetslaff yelled. "Speed up or you'll have to run for another ten minutes!"

After she yelled those words, many of the other students began to laugh quite loudly at him. Danny tried to go faster, but he couldn't keep up the pace. His legs began to burn violently, and his arm throbbed along with each heartbeat. All the pain he was feeling was starting to overwhelm his consciousness at once. He was starting to get a huge headache, too. He could hear Tetslaff continue to yell at him, but he had a hard time understanding what she was saying. His vision was getting foggy and he was finding it harder and harder to force his legs to move.

Finally, he collapsed on the hard gym floor and his vision went black. His last thought was, 'I'm useless. I can't do anything right, not at all…'

He opened his eyes, and blinked. The world around him seemed very fuzzy. He tried to get up, but fell back down, feeling extremely drained of all energy. He faintly heard the door open and close, and then someone gasping slightly. He looked up, and saw a hazy image of the school nurse. She faced him, and then walked over to where he was.

"So you're awake, huh?" She said. "Finally. Your parents are here to pick you up."

She glared at him for no reason that he could come up with.

"Oh," Danny said quietly.

"Yes well, go to your P.E. Locker and change back into your clothes if you're up to it."

"I think so…" Danny said, struggling to get up.

When his feet hit the floor, the world seemed to swerve under him before settling down. He felt really sick.

"Ok then, I'll tell your parents. Right now they're in a conference with the principal."

'I guess they're talking about me repeating the ninth grade…' Danny thought, immediately feeling worse.

The nurse left the room, and Danny slowly walked his way to the guy's locker room. Thankfully, it was only a few steps away. It was placed so closely to the P.E. area because many students injured themselves there. He was also secretly glad that his locker was so near to the door. It was only six lockers away. He raised his hand to turn the combination lock. '11, 45, 17…' He raised the lock and it opened. He gradually pulled the door the rest of the way, then pulled out his clothes. Then, he sat on the bench and changed his clothes. He closed the door to his locker, not worrying about putting his P.E. clothes back inside.

'They need washing anyway.' He thought, picking them up. He then picked up his backpack.

He walked slowly back to the nurse's room, treading slightly with every step. When he was right in front of the door, he felt positively nauseous. He contained his urge, and then walked the next few steps inside, where his parents were waiting.

"Come on," Maddie said, grabbing Danny's arm and pulling him out of the room.

Jack and Jazz walked behind him. They walked outside the school and got into the car. Danny got into the backseat and laid back against the seat, closing his eyes in shame.

'They must be really disappointed in me,' he thought.

"Are you guys mad at me?" He said aloud, then immediately wished that he didn't.

His parents' glares were enough to shake the last wits out of anyone. Danny cringed.

"We'll talk about it when we get home," Jack said, then they turned back facing the road.

Danny stayed quiet after that, opening up his backpack and pulled out a whole stash of powdered donuts. He then ate them all quietly.

When they got home, Danny immediately ran into his room without giving his parents or Jazz a chance to say anything. He plopped onto his bed, feeling absolutely miserable.

'I hate myself,' He thought. 'I can't do a thing right, I have to repeat the ninth grade, and I have no friends. And no one even needs me anymore.' He sighed deeply, turning in his bed. 'I feel so alone…'

He felt like he didn't feel that it was worth living anymore. And all he had to do was to sneak in the lab and take any poison, and it would be all over. 'Everything would be the same without me, no, it would be better. Then I wouldn't be able to disappoint anyone ever again…'

He sat restless in his bed for six whole hours. It was now ten o' clock. He got up, preparing himself for what he was about to do, and had been pondering on for all that time. He got up and crept down the stairs, the snores of his father bouncing off the walls. He slowly crept into the basement, where the lab was. He peered at the different cabinets and counters, until his eyes stuck to a capped bottle. He walked towards it and looked at the label.

'Cyanide tablets…perfect.'

He uncapped the lid and took one out. Gulping deeply, he put one in his mouth and swallowed. In a few seconds, he felt extremely dizzy. He fell on the floor with a clatter, and then heard his parents wake up.

'It's all over,' he thought, before surrendering to the darkness.


	3. Dreariness of Error

A/N: Yea, purpledog100 is now too busy with her schoolwork to help with the story, so it's just me now. Hope it's not that different than the usual. I can't believe it, when I had Biology with Mr. Ditter 2 yrs ago (yes, the teacher & lessons from the last chap were from my old notes & 9th grade life…), it was so easy, & she has just the opposite amount of work. & to think AP Calculus is hard…it is but is also so boring…o well. My elementary school best friend was in the hospital because she can't walk right now…I wonder if she's still there. Hope not. Her mom sure didn't want me to come see her. Oh well, I hope she's ok…Ugg, and I'm really sick now, stupid cold that spreads around this time of yr, with weird weather & all…

When All Is Lost: Chapter Three: Dreariness of Error

It was a distinctive noise, well as distinctive as one coming from the lab, which was like no other. Its floors were specially designed by the scientists who made it so that if anything fell it would vibrate loud enough to wake up an extremely sound sleeper –well, extremely enough as Jack Fenton- so that Maddie would always have minimal effort to just get down there with backup and get rid of the trespasser. So, when a loud clatter echoed through the halls, the two came running down the stairway and into the basement. As they walked down though, they weren't too surprised to find that no lights were turned on, so they flicked the switch on, only to have any words in their throats robbed of them by the sight that lay before them. Maddie was too shocked to move, so Jack ran to the fallen body of his son.

"Danny, Danny! Are you alright, son? Speak to me!" Jack yelled desperately, shaking him, but Danny's head only bobbed back and forth lifelessly.

Maddie, almost like in a trance, wandered to the counter where she saw an open container of cyanide tablets. She was almost on the verge of tears.

"Oh Danny, how could you?" She whispered. "Why would you do such a thing?"

She turned back to face her husband and son, who was impervious to all the shaking his father was doing. Suddenly he popped up and threw up on the floor.

"Danny!" Jack said, embracing him from his back. "I'm so glad you're alive!"

"Hwuh?" He muttered, looking up briefly with feverish eyes, then threw up again, before moaning in pain and passing out.

"Jack, we have to call 911." Maddie said shakily.

"But he threw up, didn't he?" Jack said ignorantly. "Shouldn't that have expelled the poison from his system?"

"Only a small fraction. These tablets are of a high concentration of poison, meaning if we don't get him to a hospital in the next few minutes, he'll die." Her expression turned grave, and his reflected hers.

"I'll go call now." He then left to the kitchen.

Maddie walked over to Danny's fallen body and hugged him lovingly. She then patted his head lightly.

"Something's wrong, isn't it Danny," She said, talking to him even though she knew he probably couldn't hear her. "I'm such a bad parent, I didn't notice it before. We were just so worried about how you were doing in school, we…but your health's more important. I promise, after you make it out of this I promise I'll be better. We just don't want you to fail. You know we care about you a lot, don't you? I'm sorry, the past few days I have been so worked up and…" She trailed off, eying the scar from the other day. "Just make it out of this, ok? It'll all get better, I promise. We'll work it out together."

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Danny woke up suddenly to a dark room. He fumbled about him but could feel nothing, then started to panic. He screamed but stopped suddenly. All the noise was devoured by the silence. He tried to get up, and yet he could not even move. All of a sudden a crippling pain waved through him, causing all of his thoughts to seize. The pain was almost too much, until he just felt sick to his stomach, the majority of the pain pulsating into a slow and temporary sleep. He hoped it would not come back.

'If dying was this hard I wouldn't have tried,' he thought, until darkness invaded it too.

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"But Doctor, he's allergic to that stuff," Maddie started, eyeing her husband sleeping on the chair. 'He could sleep almost anywhere. Almost.' She thought absentmindedly.

"Yes but, what other choice do we have? If he does not take it he will die."

"But-"

"Is the allergy fatal?"

"Not that I know, he had it accidentally once so, well it only caused minor skin inflation and a fever but that shouldn't be fatal."

"Then we'll try it."

"Ok Doctor, I put all my trust in you." She turned back to her son in the hospital bed, looking as sick as ever. He seemed to be feverish already, tossing and turning as in caught up in a living nightmare.

She left the room to get a snack, though it was partly to erase that horrible image from her mind.

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Danny woke up and was relieved to see light. He looked around, surprised to see himself in a hospital instead of someplace like the ghost zone. Everything around him looked a little fuzzy though. He turned to the slightly ajar door, and at that particular moment a nurse was walking in for a check-up. She gasped, smiled, and then walked back out. He wondered why she would smile…maybe he looked sick or something, although she had no reason to be against him. Maybe it was an honest smile, who knew? His mind then wandered to a very obvious question. 'Why am I in the hospital, anyway?' he thought, blinking twice in an unsuccessful attempt to clear his vision. He heard footsteps coming toward him quite clearly though, and strained to turn again and look. He was getting very tired, and fast, even though he had just gotten up. He blinked again, and then felt slightly more focused. The nurse and his mom walked in…it figures she'd be there.

"Danny, you're awake!" His mom said in an excited tone, running to hug him.

"What's with you?" He responded, and then found that his voice was hoarse.

"Oh, I'm just so glad you made it through! It's been so long and-"

"Huh? What day is it anyway?" He said, half hoping that he had missed some school. One day to have not been embarrassed in, though it would be pretty unlikely.

"It's Friday. 6'o clock P.M. Oh-"

"Oh." Danny said half-heartedly. 'Guess they took me to the hospital and only an hour passed or something. Wait a sec'…' "It's 6? You sure?"

"Yes, Danny. They've kept you here for a week, I was afraid you'd never wake up."

"Huh!" Suddenly in his mind it all clicked. "What did you do?" He said in a depressed tone of voice.

"Nothing Danny, what are you talki-"

"Why didn't you let me die!" He felt emotional now, tears starting to leak out. "Why!"

"Of course we wouldn't…Danny…why would we? Why did you do that sort of thing in the first place Danny? What's wrong? I know we've been hard on you but we're sorr-"

"It was for the best, Mom! It was for the best…" He trailed off, his eyes cast down to the floor.

The doctor came in with his hands behind his back. "Well it seems as though he's awake."

"Yes," The nurse said, nodding.

The doctor then turned to Maddie. "He'll be released in 48 hours. We still have to keep him because of attempted suicide."

"I understand," Maddie said, looking sadly at her son who was angrily gripping the sheets on the bed.

"I don't need some stupid talk," he mumbled, still looking at the crinkles on the bed.

"I can see that, Mr. Fenton," the doctor said, looking towards him. "You just get a thinking period if you're good during 'the talk' as you so call it." He turned back towards the door and walked out, the nurse trailing after him after writing something on her clipboard.

"Are you hungry Danny?" Maddie said caringly.

"No, I'm just fine," Danny said quietly.

"Ok. Well I'll be back tomorrow, ok?"

Danny didn't respond. Maddie then sighed and turned to leave.

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Two days later, Maddie had realized that she had forgotten to go to the hospital. She had been too caught up in the lab to think about anything really. She quickly got fixed up and grabbed her purse only to hear the phone ring. Sighing, she walked over and picked it up. "Hello?" she said into it, wondering who would call at such an hour.

"Hello, this is Mr. Lancer speaking."

"Oh hello, I was just about to leave the house. How are you?"

"I am ok, but worried about your son. Why was he absent all last week? Was he sick?"

"Yes, he is." 'Technically,' she thought.

"Oh. When will he be returning to school?"

"I don't know really. He's still very sick."

"Well, there's a matter I would wish to speak with you and Mr. Fenton about. Can you come to the school tomorrow for a meeting?"

"No problem. Well, have a nice day, Mr. Lancer."

"You too." 'Click.'

She hung up the phone then left the house.

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After she was done signing the release forms at the hospital, she went up to the room Danny was in to pick him up. She opened the door only to see him sitting on the bed, staring at her with a vacant expression on his face.

"You didn't come yesterday," he said in a quiet tone. "I was looking for you."

"I got caught up," she said guiltily. "Now come on, it's time to go."

He got up slowly and walked to her, then suddenly embraced her, only to draw back immediately after that. Then they both walked out of the door.

The trip home was very quiet. Danny looked out of the window the whole time and Maddie could think of nothing to say to lighten the tense mood. When they got home he went up to his room and stayed there. There was nothing she could do to get him down and eat something. She was sure they had fed him at the hospital, but her instincts still bothered her so she went to knock on his door.

"Danny, are you hungry?" She asked through the door.

"No, not really," he responded. "What's Jazz doing?"

"She's staying over at a friend's house. Why?"

"Just wondering."

She sat there for a while at the door, and then left after not thinking of anything else to say. Something continued to bother her for the rest of the day, even when Jazz came home in a joyous mood and Jack finally got out of the lab. She hoped it wouldn't last much longer. She even had trouble going to sleep that night.

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The next day Maddie woke up early to cook the breakfast. Jazz opened the door to Danny's room and shook him awake.

"Uhh…" Danny moaned, then turned in bed and went back to sleep.

"Get up, Danny. It's time for school!" Jazz said, shaking him again.

"I can't…not today…Jazz come on…not today…"

"Oh ok. Remember to tell mom when you feel good enough to go to school so I can wake you up ok?" She said jokily.

"Ok whatever…" He hugged the pillow to his face and went to sleep, only to go straight into a sort of nightmare. "Come on…you never told me that…I never knew…so you hate me, huh? How could you? I…you too…?"

"Crazy little bro'," Jazz snorted, then left the room, only to almost run into Maddie who was bringing Danny some pancakes.

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At the mid hour, Maddie and Jack drove up to the school after checking up on Danny, who had eaten only a third of his breakfast before falling back into a semi-peaceful sleep. They walked into Mr. Lancer's office, and it was he that was there to meet him.

"Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, I have an important matter to discuss with the two of you."

"Yes?" Jack said, he and Maddie sitting into the chairs. "What's the issue?"

"When I talked with you before about young Daniel's grades, it seems as though I was mistaken, technically. His grades in the system were tampered with. His real grades are just fine. I am saddened to know that he is very sick and it is possible that he might not come back for the rest of the year – there are only two weeks left at any rate – but even if he doesn't take the final for all of his classes he will still pass them, so take comfort in that fact."

"Oh…" Maddie said.

"Well, that's all I wanted to say, so have a nice day, and may Daniel get better soon.

"Yes, you as well."

"Take care," Jack said, and then they both walked out of the room.

They were both stunned in a guilty silence. The harsh punishments they inflicted upon him were for nothing but probably leading him to attempt a suicide. They decided to tell him when they got home.

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For a week, Tucker and Sam went on their merry way trying to ignore Danny if they ever saw him. But what began to worry them was that they didn't see him at all. They didn't even see him the last Friday after he had run from the lunch room. Well that was their plan after all. They were discussing in record room that they were going to pretend to be dating to creep Danny out so he would apologize. Not only was it a complete failure in the fact that it was too extreme and caused Danny never to show up again, it had also grossed them out in the fact that they had to pretend to like that awful kiss in the lunch room. When people would mention it, it would still cause them the shivers. Anyway, their worry over his well being was quickly overriding their anger towards him so at the end of lunchtime they went to Mr. Lancer's room.

"Uh, Mr. Lancer? Where's Danny?" Sam asked. "Where's he been?"

"He's sick." Mr. Lancer replied, still grading papers on his desktop. "He might not be coming back for the rest of the school year."

"He's home sick?" Tucker said, surprised.

"Thanks Mr. Lancer," Sam said, and then they both walked out of the classroom.

"Hey Sam," Tucker started as they walked towards their lockers. "Are you free after school?"

"Yea, why?"

"Let's drop by, you know, to see how he's doing?"

"Aren't we still mad at him Tucker?" Sam said.

"Yea, but not that much anymore. Besides, he always visits us when we're sick."

"Oh alright Tucker. Now excuse me, you're leaning on my locker."


	4. Deficient Attitude

A/N: I've finally gotten around to trying to update. I hope this chapter's ok, it's kind of short…I'm going to write a new story soon, but make sure you check it out, ok? Thanx.

Thanks for the 8 reviews I got (from Word Life 316, Siriuslyfun19212, Beyonce's Angel925, animegurl088, Cold-heart-Angel23, Duchess of Harmony, Naomi-Yuko, & ghost animal). Now I hope you guys are reading still & enjoy this latest chapter.

Remember to check my profile for updates, as well as other stuff…

Deficient Attitude

They knocked on the door, disturbing the silence of the afternoon breeze. It was extremely dark and cloudy at this hour, and they wanted to get in before it actually started to rain.

"Danny? You there?" Tucker asked, knocking once more. He looked up once more at the sky.

"I give up," Sam said, sighing, and then opened the door. Tucker blinked twice, so Sam explained, "You forgot already? Their door is always open…at least when Danny's home sick for some reason…"

Tucker shrugged, and then they entered the house. They checked the kitchen and the lab just to make sure no one was home, and then ascended up the stairs to Danny's room. Just when they got to the top of the staircase, Tucker said:

"So should we still pretend to be mad at him, or not?"

"Maybe we should…but we should be in the "circumstance forgiveness" phase, you get me?"

"Yeah, yeah…he's going to be our friend again right?"

"Of course, Tuck!" Sam said, though she wasn't sure. She still was mad at him for being such a jerk, but she still wanted to be friends. Her temper was still taking way of how she was going to forgive him however…

--IL--

They opened his room door and found Danny sleeping on his bed with all of the covers on the floor.

"He doesn't look too sick…" Tucker remarked.

"Maybe he just has a fever or something," Sam said absentmindedly, already approaching the bed.

She peeked down at him. He seemed so serene…he looked so worn out and yet at peace with everyone and himself. Maybe she should wake him up…

Just a light touch on his shoulder did the trick. Danny popped up in bed before rubbing his eyes briskly, and then turned to them in a startled manner. He blinked once, twice, then blurted "You guys…Am I still sleeping?"

"Hey, man…" Tucker said quietly. "Me and Sam, we wanted to talk to you so…here we are."

"You guys…are really here to see me?" Danny said, blinking again.

"Yeah, I guess." Sam said. "Eh…you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine, don't worry about me." Danny laughed nervously. "How are you guys?"

"We're fine," Tucker and Sam said simultaneously.

"Good, good…"

The silence built up until they heard rain banging against the window.

"Wow, it's raining…" Danny said, and then started to stare.

"Yeah, it was cloudy all day," Tucker said, then noticed something in Danny's eyes that were strange. "So as I was saying, we came to-"

"Ask you if you wanted to be friends again," Sam interrupted, wanting to say it for herself.

Danny immediately turned from watching the rain. "Really? You mean it? I mean, I missed you guys, I really did. I…was going to say sorry but I was…sick so…"

"Yeah, we heard." Tucker said.

"Well," Sam started. "We're willing to be friends again, but you can't be unreasonable anymore Danny. We're really sick of it. We're not people to just put all your anger on Danny. We just…" She trailed off.

"I know." Danny said eventually. "I'm really sorry for being such a jerk all the time. I-I promise to be better. Ok?"

"Ok." Sam said, smiling slightly. She swore she felt a tear going down her cheek.

"So, we're friends again." Tucker said, as if to clarify the moment.

"Yay…" Danny said, then fell back onto his bed as if he had fainted, with his eyes closed.

"Danny! You ok?" Sam asked, shaking him gently but firmly.

"I-I'm alright…just…tired. Don't worry about me ok? I don't…" His words became inaudible.

"What did you say Danny?" Sam said, leaning closer to him.

"I…"

"Danny?" She was leaning directly over his face now, her ear next to his mouth. She could feel his warm breath.

"I don't matter. You know that."

"Danny!" Sam slapped him on impulse. His eyes popped open in confusion. "Don't say those things!"

Tucker was sitting there, confused.

"Why?" Danny muttered. "It's true. Don't deny that either, because it's-"

"It's not true!" Sam said, slapping him again. "When did you start being so negative? What happened Danny? You aren't feeling well…are you? What's bothering you? Are you in some sort of pain?"

Danny opened his mouth to answer when he heard the door slam and the all familiar voices saying, "We're home!"

"Dang!" He said, frozen.

"What's with you, Danny? I guess your parents are home…" Tucker said, eying the door. "Where's Jazz, anyhow?"

"After school stuff, the usual, you know." Danny said absentmindedly.

"What the heck is wrong with you, Danny?" Sam asked worriedly.

The door opened, revealing Maddie. Before she could say anything however, Danny blurted out:

"Mom! I'm sorry!"

"What? Danny, you did nothing wrong, I was just-"

"I know I'm not supposed to have friends over! Can you forgive me?"

Sam and Tucker blinked twice in confusion.

"…You're off of punishment Danny. You forgot?" Maddie said, blinking. "Oh dear, I hope you don't have a fever..."

"I…oh…" Danny trailed off, looking at the floor.

"Here, let me see, come here." Maddie took his hand and dragged him across the room. "Hi Sam, Tucker," She said, smiling briefly, before walking Danny out of the room.

"That was…odd." Tucker said.

"He sure seems _very_ stressed out. I wonder what's up." Sam said.

"I guess it's best to leave him alone for a while. He does look like he'll be able to come back soon, right?"

"Yeah."

They walked out of the room, down the stairs, then out of the house. From there, to run home before the rain started again.

--WA--

Danny watched them leave from the kitchen window as his mother checked his temperature.

"Yeah, it's a bit high. Go back to sleep, ok?" Maddie said.

"Ok." Danny said meekly.

"You feeling any better?"

"Yeah." Danny said, smiling a bit. "Much better." He walked up to the stairs towards his room.


	5. The Acquired Ground

A/N: Finally I updated. I hope you enjoy this latest chapter. Thanks for all 6 reviews. I think I definitely will add to this story later, make a few changes, and make it a short story. Enjoy! I think this chapter will be the end…

Edited: 9/7/07

The Acquired Ground 

Danny woke up with a start, before cradling his aching head. He sat there for a moment, letting the fresh air of the morning sink in before he breathed in deeply. After a while, he got up to look through the window. The rain was no longer pouring, but the sky was still as dark as if it were. He sighed, letting his pain pour out of him and into the clouds above. After a while, his mind was fully empty of the ache so he could think. He pondered on yesterday.

It seemed so surreal. His memory was laced with fuzz and swirl. Even the voices had a slight echo to it. It couldn't have happened, but yet it did. He remembered Sam being so close to him, and her slaps still stung. He thought for a bit longer about it before he remembered that painful memory that brought him to his sad state. He shook his head. Even in his dreams, he would respect her current relationship. He won't let his friends down. He will be honest from now on.

'I promised,' he thought. 'At least I have their friendship again.'

He thought about all their moments together before he felt better. He sighed, then closed his eyes and breathed in fresh wind. It swirled around to cool his sore heart before he let it go back out the window. Then he turned to look at the clock. It was Wednesday, 1:00 P.M. He remembered today was the day that school was out for the summer. It was the twentieth of June. "No more school," he said to himself, smiling. He wondered what Sam and Tucker were doing for the summer. Maybe they would call him sometime. That way he wouldn't disturb them. Now he didn't regret not dying. Otherwise, his friends would have never forgiven him. Life would have gone on…without him. Either way it would work out, even with him alive.

Suddenly blue mist came out of his mouth. He turned around to see the Box Ghost.

"Beware!" He yelled, waving his hands around.

"What do you want, Box Ghost? I'm not in the mood."

"You will be, when you hear thee!"

"Since when have you gone Shakespearian?" Danny mused aloud.

"The ghost council has decided that you have abided! All is forgiven! But still, beware! Or more is to come!" The ghost laughed and then left as suddenly as he had come.

'At least I didn't have to fight him,' Danny thought. 'So that out of favor thing was just a fluke.' His stomach growled. 'Well, time to get food.'

He walked out of his room and down the staircase, only to see no one. He vaguely heard his parents working at the lab in the basement, since it was now mostly sound-proof. That was when the phone rang. He paused for a second before answering it.

"Hello?" He said hesitantly, and then added, "Fenton residence."

"Hi…Danny?" It was Sam.

"Oh…" Danny felt nervous. "H-hi Sam. What's up?"

"Oh, nothing much." She had a sarcastic tone. "How about you?"

"I'm…good." He began fingering the telephone cord. "So what brought you to call today?"

"You sound better. I wanted to see how you are today…and maybe to clear some things up between us."

"What things?"

"You know…are you going to tell me what's been going on with you lately?"

"I don't think you'd care to hear." Danny said sadly.

"If I asked, I obviously care Danny. I've been caring about you for years. You just…never tell me anything anymore."

"Yes I do Sam. I just…I dunno Sam. It's hard to confine in you sometimes. You get mad at me."

"I'll be madder at you if you don't tell me Danny, you know that."

Danny paused. "Not on the phone…tell me what's up between you and Tucker."

Sam laughed.

"What's so funny?!" Danny said angrily, and then frowned.

"It's nothing," she said after her laughter subsided. "Nothing's going on Danny."

"Really…then why did you guys kiss?" Danny said, suspiciously.

"I'll explain it to you, I guess, clueless. I…can I come over?"

"I guess so."

"Ok, see you."

"Bye," Danny said, and then he hung up.

After Danny had some cereal Sam had arrived. They sat on the sofa in silence for a while as the TV blazed. They weren't really listening to how a meteorite had led a team of scientists to believe in extraterrestrial life existing amongst the stars. They weren't that bored…yet. Every once in a while they would sneak glances at each other, but when their eyes met they would turn away shyly.

"So…about you and Tucker…" Danny started.

"I told you Danny, nothing was going on. We were just trying to make you jealous."

"Make me jealous?" Danny repeated, feeling especially bad. "Why?"

"Duh, so you would try to break us up and then apologize."

"But the thing was, I didn't want to…that would be rude."

"That's very unlike you Danny," Sam said, shaking her head.

"Are you saying that I'm rude?" Danny snapped, before frowning. "I guess I am…I guess."

Sam turned to him, raising an eyebrow. "You've changed since we had that fight. You've been…different."

"Good or bad Sam?" Danny said, biting his inner lip. He decided not to tell Sam what had been going on, and to concentrate on trying to be better with his friends.

"Danny…you seem insecure. I mean, you always seem that way but not this much. saying that I'm rude?" Danny snapped, before frowning. "I guess I am…I guess."

Sam turned to him, raising an eyebrow. "You've changed since we had that fight. You've been…different."

"Good or bad Sam?" Danny said, biting his inner lip. He decided not to tell Sam what had been going on, and to concentrate on trying to be better with his friends.

"Danny…you seem insecure. I mean, you always seem that way but not this much. You are feeling better right? We were worried about you when we heard you were sick, that's why we forgave you."

"You know…I wish I wasn't such a big jerk. That way we wouldn't have fought in the first place. But…"

"And just so you know…kissing Tucker is awful."

Sam made a face, which caused Danny to crack up laughing.

"Finally you lighten up. Are you depressed?"

"What?" Danny said, calming down. "I'm not, there's nothing wrong with me."

"Sure there is Danny." She smiled. "Feel like wearing black?"

"No!" Danny said, looking at her incredulously.

"Good. There's only room for one Goth in this group. But really, tell me what's going on. I am paying attention to you, you know. You can confide in me."

"You won't tell Tucker right?"

"I'm sure even if I did, he wouldn't blab it. He cares too. We're all friends here."

"Well…" Sam looked at him expectantly. "I…I w-was I…I can't." He turned away from her, troubled.

"Danny look…want to hold hands?" He looked at her questionably. "I mean, don't take it badly or anything. It usually helps people calm down."

"I've heard that," Danny answered, then thought a while. "I guess…"

He started to reach out before she got up. "Wait a second."

The scientist on the TV was saying "We worked eight years on this project and we have yet to find any contradictory evidence to what we originally thought." There was a close-up of the cut meteorite before Sam picked up the remote and turned it off. Then she sat back down.

"Hey I was watching that!" Danny joked.

"Sure Danny…here." She reached out and held his hands. "Feel any better?"

"Uh…" Danny said, blushing. "Yes." He attempted a smile.

"Well, tell-tell." She said eagerly. She saw Danny's bashful face then added, "Oh come on, I won't kill you."

"I already tried." Danny blurted out before closing his eyes. He felt shame in front of her.

"Huh? Tried to tell me? Don't beat around the bush. Tell me Danny."

"You know I…you know I've been really stressed out lately."

"Yes I do. So…"

"You know I failed every class on the fifteen week report card."

"You did?! You're not that bad of a student. What went wrong?"

"And I was too busy fighting ghosts I didn't know. By the time I knew it was too late to raise them."

"Well that sucks." Sam gave him a sympathetic look and gripped his hands harder.

"And I was wrong to get mad at you guys. I was just mad at myself since I'm not good enough." Danny averted her gaze.

"You're fine the way you are Danny," Sam crooned. "You just have things to work on."

"Yeah sure, I'm really messed up right now." He started shaking.

"Well, for one thing you could make up some classes in summer school, that way it won't be as bad. You could go to adult school as well, maybe home school. That way it won't take as long to make up the classes…"

"I'm not talking about just that Sam. I mean, I _snuck_ into my parent's lab and took _cyanide_." When he noticed Sam's startled stare, he gasped and tried to take his hands away, but she yanked him back to face her. Then she let go with a gasp of her own.

"Danny…" she said with her eyes wide open. "You-you're joking right?"

"I-I-I-I don't hate me!" Danny stuttered.

"Y-you stupid boy!" She growled. "You weren't sick. Why did you attempt suicide Danny! That is unlike you!"

"I…felt like no one cared."

"We have a little fight, and you flunk the ninth grade, so you attempt suicide?"

"I got grounded by my parents."

"You deserve it!"

"I know!" Danny's eyes started to wander. He felt a serious depression. "I told you I don't deserve anything. I don't matter…"

"You don't appreciate anything Danny! No one would stoop to such a level in that situation! What were you thinking…"

She halted when she saw Danny bawling with his head buried in his arms.

"That isn't just it, is it?"

"They hit me…" he whined, then continued to cry.

"What? Who?" Sam asked, her anger at Danny partly transitioning to concern. He cried harder so she grabbed his shoulders. "I'm sorry Danny, please tell me."

"Mom threw a plate at me…" he sobbed.

"She wouldn't do such a thing!" Sam said in shock.

"She didn't mean it, but it hurt…every…one gets so angry at me…"

"Over your grades huh…" Sam acknowledged.

"Yes…"

"Who hit you Danny?" She said, squeezing his shoulder slightly. When he would respond, she shook him and then tried to pry his arms from his face.

"Dash…the football team…"

"Figures. When?"

"After our fight…after detention…"

"Oh Danny." She hugged him, holding him close. She felt her shirt starting to get wet.

"I was going to apologize after detention…they blocked my way…"

"Danny, It's ok. I don't forgive you for trying to kill yourself but I still care. Shh…" She rubbed his back.

"I-it's too painful…to remember…" He started to struggle.

"Nuh uh, I'm not going to let you do anything stupid Danny," Sam said determined, holding him tighter and then ran her left hand through his hair.

"They hit me for hours…" Danny sobbed, and then tried to push her away.

She let him go only to push him against the sofa and slap him. "Get a hold of yourself, Danny, unless you really want counseling!"

"No…" Danny said.

"Well stop all that crying and calm down! You got it out of you. It's ok now!"

"No…"

"Yes it is, because I say it is and-"

He pushed his body up, trying to get out of her hold, but ended up in a lip-lock with her instead. But for all she knew, he did it on purpose, maybe to make her loosen her grip, maybe to make himself feel better, but never because he liked her, she told herself. She couldn't help but like it, but…A kiss was the most random thing in this type of moment. The kiss lasted for a good three seconds before she pushed him forcefully back against the sofa.

She breathed deeply before she said, "Did you like that, delinquent?"

Danny looked at her with a surprised look, a rosy hue on his cheeks. Slowly he nodded, then he sniffled.

"Next time, ask first. I've got to go." She let go of his arms and started to walk away nervously. "Do whatever you want, I give up."

Danny looked panicked, saying, "You're not mad at me, are you?"

"As long as I never hear you even mention taking poison again, no I'm not mad. Just call me later alright. And I mean it, no cutting, no poison, no overdosing. I don't think I can trust you anymore for a long while." She shook her head then walked out of the house.

Danny gazed after her. He wished he hadn't attempted suicide. It sucked, and maybe he could have apologized sooner. Maybe everything will work out in the end. He sat on the sofa silently, gazing at the black screen of the TV until he realized. 'Did she say "Call me later?" What does that mean? No…it doesn't mean anything. But…it wouldn't hurt to try…maybe after everything settles down. Then I'll tell Tucker and we can mend things between us three. Then maybe, just maybe…'

Danny decided to go look through the mail after lying on the sofa for a while, deep in thought. He filtered it out: 'Bills, Postcards for mom, more bills, report card…' He didn't want to see it, but hey, he already knew what was on it. Maybe then he could finally let this all go. 'I should…nah. Maybe…'

He thought for a while, before giving it a go. As he tore off the seal, he wondered which one he would take over in summer school. After all, he could only take two semesters…maybe he'd go to night school. Then at least he'd move up a grade. He pondered on it. History and English were the only grade-restrictive classes. He'd probably take Math as well and then just take Science over the next year. He congratulated himself on his plan and then pulled out the report card. He quickly glanced at it before freezing. He froze, carelessly letting it drift to the floor.

"What the?" He said audibly. "This must be a mistake…"

His parents came through the door.

"Hi honey!" Maddie said, waving.

"We brought groceries!" Added an excited Jack.

"So…I'm guessing the mail came."

"Yeah, about that…" Danny said, wondering if he should say it and ruin the beautiful, awe-inspiring, illusion or not. "Mom…Dad…there's a mistake on my report card."

"What do you mean?" Maddie said, blinking, as Jack went to put the groceries in the refrigerator.

"Well…it says that I passed all my classes…"

"Oh. There's no mistake! Didn't I tell you?" She blinked as Danny started to stare. "It turned out that your grades were fine! Isn't that great?"

"Oh. Good." Danny responded. He couldn't think. He knew his grades were okay, so how was he failing in the first place? They were mistakes? He thought of Dash immediately.

"Yes, and I'm glad you're awake! You and I are going up to the school! They're investigating something, I suppose…"

"…" Danny froze. Surely not the fact that he was Danny Phantom?

"Let's go!" She dragged him out of the building as he let the other mail fall as well.

"Well I'm glad you're well again, Daniel. So, what I wanted to talk to about is, well it's hard to say…" Mr. Lancer paused, tapping his index fingers together every once in a while.

Danny was panicking, thinking that his grades were horrid after all, while Maddie sat there at attention.

"We found dried blood in your son's locker during clean-up."

"What? What happened!" Maddie asked, instantly alert.

Danny knew exactly what was going on. He smiled.

"Well, we had it tested, and it's your son's. We've called you now, seeing as Mr. Fenton's the only witness of this strange event…So Daniel, what happened?"

"Well, Dash beat me up after detention the day before I was…sick."

"He dare lay a hand on my boy?!!" Maddie went psycho, as any caring parent would.

"I see. That's all we needed to know." Mr. Lancer said, then ushered them out.

"Wait, what's going to happen to Dash?" Danny asked curiously.

"He'll be expelled. He has never done anything like this before…but this cannot be ignored. You should have told us sooner, before this got out of hand. Good day."

"Well…" Maddie said on their way out. "It's all settled…and I'll see to it that he never touches a hair on my little boy ever again!"

She ruffled his hair, causing him to frown, before they got in the car.

He sat around, looking at the sky…or rather, his ceiling. The stars were glowing ever so brightly…his cell phone rang, so he flipped the top and put it to his ear.

"Hello."

"Hi man, it's Tuck. I just wanted to say I'm so-"

"Sorry, I know. Thanks for calling."

"Yeah. Well, didn't want you to still be mad at us. And Sam totally likes you."

"I don't know about that, Tucker. She said she can't trust me anymore."

"Well earn it back, hurry up! Ask her on a date or something. Go somewhere she likes, she'd never be mad at you."

"Sure…" This time, he was actually thinking about it. Trying to live.

"Come on! I DARE you!"

"Tucker…no…"

"So you're a chicken? Seriously dude, I thought you were man-er than that…"

"I am so mature Tucker! I just…she came over earlier and…I just…"

"I know Danny. If you're wondering why I know, it's because I got it out of her. Took a lot of work though…a piece of advice, if you're feeling that way, please talk to us! It just makes us feel as we've been bad friends."

"I know, you guys are the greatest…which is why I couldn't take it when you guys weren't there to help me through this. I…there's no excuse though, I didn't think. Sorry I put you guys though this, and it's okay to mistrust me too."

"You know, everyone makes mistakes. It's okay now, and Sam does not hate you, neither do I. We still love ya man! Now call her, before I post some blackmail pictures of you on the internet!"

"Fine…bye then."

"Good luckkk…."

He hung up, then proceeded to dial Sam's number. He knew what she'd say, after all, they had a fight.

"Hello?" Said a tired voice.

"Hi Sam." He said quietly.

"Oh, it's you. Listen, if it's about me telling Tucker-"

"No, I just wanted to ask you…next time, can you catch me when I'm falling? I-I know it seems rude to ask this of you now but…I know you're mad…"

"Oh Danny…I'd always catch you. I was just mad, me and Tucker both were, I should have known you were going through something. I take the blame for this."

"You know it's my fault Sam…it just hurt too much to see you both as not my friends…and I was jealous and stupid!"

"You are stupid Danny, you promise to tell me-us when you think of it again? Wait…you were jealous of me and Tucker?"

"Ah…yes." Danny blushed over the phone.

"Cute, Danny. Well you don't have to be jealous anymore Danny."

"Hope not. So Sam…"

"Wanna go see a movie on Saturday? Your treat."

"S-sure."

"Ok then, meet me at 7 PM. Bye Danny."

"Bye…"

He hung up, putting his head on his bed. The things he'd have missed out on if he actually died…

THE END

THE END


End file.
